Q: In my opinion, Joel Anthony is not a starting center. Big Z is too old. But Dampier is a legit starting center. Joel Anthony would start on how many other NBA teams at center? I think zero. I think Dampier would soak up 22 mpg, Joel and Big Z 10 mpg apiece, and Bosh 6. Would Big Z be happy at 10 mpg? I’m not sure. Perhaps Joel would be odd man out. — Martin.

A: First of all, Dampier is 36, Ilgauskas is 35. So why is the perception so overwhelmingly in favor of Erick as the fresher presence? Neither is as quick to the ball defensively as Anthony. Beyond that, and perhaps beyond all of this, is your notion that Bosh would be utilized for six minutes per game at center. I would venture that with Haslem also on the roster, Bosh will wind up playing closer to 18 minutes a game at center. Look, Dampier is on par with anyone the Heat have at center. But if the Heat can make it work with Anthony, who is going into the first year of a five-year contract, then they can utilize their limited salary-cap exceptions going forward in future seasons for other needs, perhaps point guard or a perimeter defensive stopper. Dampier makes sense if the choice is to move Ilgauskas out of the mix. But does that make sense considering how LeBron wanted Zydrunas here in the first place?

Q: How much longer do we have to wait for Riley to guarantee a championship? — Fil.

A: The young, impetuous Riley is gone. Pat said last week what matters is that his team is positioned to challenge for a championship, which, as an executive, is all you can ask of a team. Of course, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t mind collecting on those Three-Peat royalties down the road.

Q: I’m curious why Riley chose now to call his press conference and respond to Van Gundy and Barkley. It’s almost as if someone made a comment to him like he didn’t come to his players’ defense, etc. It’s just weird timing. — Moshe.

A: Actually. We prodded him for the answer. I think the timing was that the ‘Canes and Dolphins were about to open their seasons and he didn’t want to let the spotlight get too far away.

Q: I always thought highly of Jeff Van Gundy as a coach and would like to see him coach our Heat. — Wayne.

A: I, too, think Jeff is a terrific coach. But I can’t fathom, as long as this remains a Pat Riley operation, that would ever happen. I think of all the coaching Van Gundys, Bill Van Gundy might be the only one left with any shot down here.

Q: How about this: When the Heat win one title, let’s call this Bosh’s team. When they win three, let’s call this Wade’s team. When they win six, let’s call this LeBron’s team. Let them match the titles with their jersey number to earn the team name. — Lakshmanan.

A: So if someone takes the No. 0, would that instantly make it their team?

youtube can make anyone look good….although I don’t know if there are enough willi blog highlights to make your posts look good……we were all watching the games, Joel can’t catch a cold.

on a more serious note…what happened to you willi? while i very rarely agreed with your points of view, you used to at least try to present them in an intelligent manor….you’re like a cartoon character these days.

I posted this article for one simple reason,all the “EXPERTS” that sit on this blog and second guess riley and what he should or shouldn’t have done,and seem to think they can do a better job of just about everything that has to do with the heat.Take a look at his hand,blog experts.

No i’m saying i would take his complete body of work and not try to nit pick any number of decisions he has made,because as humans we all make mistakes only GOD is infallible,but as a coach/gm i’ll respect his work over the opinion of some that might let’s say works at sub-way. But then again iv’e never been one to sit around all day trying to criticize i have no first hand knowledge of,i’m not a brain surgeon so i can’t sit on my back side and say a surgeon should do this or that.

“A: … Beyond that, and perhaps beyond all of this, is your notion that Bosh would be utilized for six minutes per game at center. I would venture that with Haslem also on the roster, Bosh will wind up playing closer to 18 minutes a game at center. …”

spoestra ahs done a great job with the scrubs, and he will do much better with the real players.

Those beazo fanantics that have been criticizing Wade, Riley, Spo, Haslem should follow the Beazo the druggie to the NBA siberia, the minnie, where Beazo hoped he could be the king of the little hill..but in actuality, he finds himself hard pressed to play even 30 minutes that Heat just handed to him on a silver platter just because he was the 2nd pick.

As great a coach Riley is…and as much as we want Riley to coach…Riley groomed and hand picked Spo to coach this team. Thsese Beazo fanatics should get with that. Otherwise…von boyage to Minnie…instead of constantly and subtly knocking Wade, Riley, Haslem, and Spo. That won’t bring back your Beazo. He is playing behind Love.

And I have posted so many times that Love is much better pf than the beazo. And even Gibson or Hickson are better than Beazo. But, no..you Beazo fanantics were criticizing Riley for wanting Beazo to learn to play small forward as a combo forward.

35 or 36, he is washed up///if a scrub is washed up…what does that make him? washed up scrub. During 15 years in NBA, He has averaged like 7 points and 7 rebounds during his career and he started most games. Now, he is much older…like 35…and he is gonna go from scrub to an adequate player for a championship team? Not….he is no better than Mag or IIgauskas. If Riley brings him in. Fine. if not…it doesn’t matter.

The stats (box score-type stats, specifically, going by rpg, bpg and ppg) say he’s better than Magloire and Anthony. Big Z has been more up and down than those other guys the last three years (in playing time and production), so he’s harder to measure.

I’d rank ‘em (based on no drop off for the old guys, yet no miracle ressurection in their mid-30’s; and no major growth from Anthony [whose stats have been pretty consistent over his first three years]):

Big Z (but I’m not so sure about where he is anymore)
Dampier
Anthony
Magloire

They all have different games, though. Dampier is the most well-rounded of all of them (though not very good at anything, but okay at all the typical center duties), whereas the others are more specialists with weaknesses in lots of other areas.

Easy solution to the center rotation problem (subject to change depending on the make-up of the opposition):

Dampier: 21 min (if he comes great, if he doesn’t so be it)

Joel: 14 min

Zydrunas: 13 min

I’m sure Z will be content with 13 min (he probably didn’t expect to be playing above 15 min a game anyhow), this is a role that Joel really is best suited for – energy off-the-bench/interior shot-blocking presence, and Damp gets his crack at starting on the superteam. Everybody is happy.

Bosh will play some C minutes when we wanna go small-ball, and in those games Z and Damp would probably have their minutes squeezed a bit, but they’re both professionals – Z in particular – and they’d understand.

As for Haslem, well isn’t this year’s theme “sacrifice”? I think Haslem, much like Joel, would have to bite the bullet a bit should Damp bring his heft on down to South Beach and accept roughly 12-17 min game total playing time (which, if we’re being honest, is really what he’s best suited for).

Hey, as a thank you to UD, we can let him close games against the likes of the Warriors, Raptors, T’Wolves, etc…

If we have a lot of guys that are old…some guys will be happy to sit. Minutes won’t be a problem. Some guys will sit out for days and weeks. Main big man rotation will be Anthony and Bosh….and the others will rotate for games.

Same thing with Boston…Guys like Perkins, Shaq, JO, Garnette will each sit out like 25-35 games. There will be plenty of minutes go around. And they will be happy to sit out games for lengthy period. They will just buy tome to get to the playoffs.

Our big men are less productive bunch…so..there definitely won’t be gripes about minutes. There will be plenty of minutes here too as many will be in street clothes

If we have a lot of guys that are old…some guys will be happy to sit. Minutes won’t be a problem. Some guys will sit out for days and weeks. Main big man rotation will be Anthony and Bosh….and the others will rotate for games.

Same thing with Boston…Guys like Perkins, Shaq, JO, Garnette will each sit out like 25-35 games. There will be plenty of minutes go around. And they will be happy to sit out games for lengthy period. They will just buy tome to get to the playoffs.

Our big men are less productive bunch…so..there definitely won’t be gripes about minutes. There will be plenty of minutes here too as many will be in street clothes

I think Ira has a point about the Heat having an incentive to make it work with Anthony. If that sentiment is true I’d expect them to go out of the way to make it worth with Anthony. They did the same thing with Chalmers the last couple of years.

I definitely don’t see the need for a perimeter defensive stopper, especially for the MLE. You have an All NBA 1st teamer at SF and All NBA second teamer at SG. The 4th highest paid player is currently a SG/SF. Next off season it makes more sense to go after a C or PG. Besides, a lot of defensive minded guys are discovered as undrafted free agents or minimum level type guys like Bowen, Dhantey Jones, etc.

I’d like to Haslem’s PT be no higher than 19 MPG, Z will probably play a bit more (though not much more so that is pretty accurate), Bosh will probably push 40 MPG, if not crack it, and you may be discounting the Juwan factor here.

Unfortunately true, I just hope that with all the national/international scrutiny this team will be under, and if Haslem plays the way he has been playing these last couple of seasons then I think the heat may get Spo and that may prompt a change in philosophy.

I’d like to Haslem’s PT be no higher than 19 MPG, Z will probably play a bit more (though not much more so that is pretty accurate), Bosh will probably push 40 MPG, if not crack it, and you may be discounting the Juwan factor here.

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I don’t expect any of the 3 to be higher than 36 mpg

Spo managed to work Wade in to his lowest minutes since his rookie year last year.

All line-up and minutes played by each player should be forwarded to coach spo ASAP he needs to set his rotations and players min,he’s sitting at his desk right now waiting for THIS blog to tell him what he has to do in order to be successful.

Here’s the reality with this team.The way it is constructed as of right now and allowing for the heat management to build the chemistry and bond associated with a team with this much talent,there will be a hugh amount of games that,starting in the 3 quarter the second team will be playing the majority of the minutes,with the “big 3″ only coming back if the lead they established by half-time get’s under or around 10,. i predict more then likely we will see alot of wade,lebron and bosh sitting on the bench laughing with coach spo while he tries not to make the other team like to bad and “show them up”

There you go so as the season progresses the heat wont have to worry about min’s and who gets the most shots etc.The entire team will get minutes and as with every nba team the closer you get to the playoff,the rotation gets reduced and refined,but expect even big pitt alot in the 4th quart.of alot of games,honestly from my perspective i’d say 40% of the games will be a joke,with lebron wade and bosh on the bench laughing it up while the bench is closing out games.

Beyond that, and perhaps beyond all of this, is your notion that Bosh would be utilized for six minutes per game at center. I would venture that with Haslem also on the roster, Bosh will wind up playing closer to 18 minutes a game at center.

“But if the Heat can make it work with Anthony, who is going into the first year of a five-year contract, then they can utilize their limited salary-cap exceptions going forward in future seasons for other needs, perhaps point guard or a perimeter defensive stopper. Dampier makes sense if the choice is to move Ilgauskas out of the mix. But does that make sense considering how LeBron wanted Zydrunas here in the first place?”

This is the best reason to keep Anthony and Big Z over the starting C for the 50win Dallas Mavs? That just in case someone shakes free we have roster flexibility?

WTF! If someone good comes available then cut Jones or Howard or Arroyo or whoever wins the 15th spot. Come on, Man.

And I won’t even get into the Bosh @ C for 18mpg because of Haslem…..ugh.

Think big,if your playing a team like minn or sac.and you’re blowing them out in the 4th quart,rest dampier(if they sign him) rest big z(for the play-off’s) let anthony play and get big pitt some minute,then play haslem at center,why not they get to get players playing time and more importantly rest the other bigs,because they are older.Magloire knows his role the only time i expect to see him in a game is when someone tries to intentionally hurt either dwade or lebron,then he is coming into the game to body slam someone.

I loved that game at Minnesota last year, and Darko got on a role and was starting to look unstoppable. Minny was making a real game of it, and it looked like the Heat, who had no answer on the inside for Darko, might be in trouble.

Insert Magloire.

Darko gets clocked (by an [inadvertant, natch ] elbow to the choppers or nose or whatever, heads to the locker room for treatment, and never re-emerges. (Well, I’m sure he re-emerged after Magloire was safely on the Miami bus after the game)

Trade bait. But your point is well taken God, because Joel needs starter’s minutes for this scheme to work. If Dampier is the starting center, then no team will see Anthony as anything but an overpaid bench player.

There’s no way Haslem doesn’t play at least 25mpg. Bosh has spent the last few years playing C for a large portion of his minutes and he’s done quite well. Haslem has averaged 31mpg the last two years. His lowest total was 24mpg in his rookie year.

Ilgauskus played 20mpg last year. Anthony played 17mpg last year. Even Dampier played 23mpg last year.

Let’s say the Heat stick with the roster as is and Anthony and Ilgauskus combine for 38mpg, which would be an increase to their minutes from last year. That leaves 10mpg for Bosh at C and 23mpg at PF (48min-25min Bosh = 23 min). Does anyone really see Howard getting any minutes over Haslem? When it comes down to it, who do you see Spo putting in?

Still searching for another shooter, the Boston Celtics have Adam Morrison(notes) working out for their front-office and coaching staffs this week at the team’s practice facility, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Morrison worked out on Tuesday and planned to do so again on Wednesday, sources said.

JB, that’s the kind of smack I’d expect to here coming out of Doc/Marty. You’ve got rocks in your head if you think a guy like Shaq contacted the Heat this offseason. Shaq is a name player and has a massive ego, they let teams contact them not the reverse.

Look at Iverson. Been waiting all offseason for a team to call and no one has. If he had have swallowed a bit of his pride got in contact with a team, said the right things like willing to come off the bench, don’t need x amount of minutes, x amount of shots, willing to take the vets min etc some team might’ve signed him.

I’m not omnipotent, so I don’t know exactly how FA works. But, if teams call players was Jermaine O’Neal called before or after Shaq? I know he’s getting paid more and usually when free agents leave their team the guy that gets paid more is the one in higher demand. Perhaps Shaq took a paycut like Lebron, Bosh, or Wade. It’s nice to see another organization with such upstanding players.

Hopefully it’s based on matchups and situations and not loyalty to one player. Last year Spo didn’t have many pieces to pick and choose from. Now he has options.
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Yea but that wasn’t always the case last year. Games against Portland, La, teams with huge front lines, Magloire would come in and give 3 or 4 good minutes and then hes banished back to the bench. Spo did not do well last year with matchups and it wasnt all because of a lack of options. This year there is no reason to see UD at center vs Gasol/Bynum, Perkins/Shaq, or Camby/Oden. If we see something like that then the man has learned nothing.

Spo did not do well in “your opinion” because in mine he took a team with alot of second tier and even third tier players knowing he was dealing and working for last summers free agency and took them to 45 and 47 wins respectively,and to the play-off’s both seasons,so from where i’m sitting thats a job well done,could he have done some things better,probably,but i can’t speak to that i’m not in that mans shoes.My name isn’t mentioned any where as a expert

I don’t expect to see Haslem against those guys, but I do expect to see Haslem and Bosh for big mintues against front lines of Howard, Lewis, Anderson, Bass; KG, JO, and Davis; Gasol and Odom; Alridge and Camby; etc, etc.

You know Bosh is going to get 35mpg. Who do you think Spo will give minutes to between Haslem, Magloire, Ilgauskus, and Pittman? We’ll see how it works out. Haslem hasn’t exactly played with great front court mates since Shaq left…. He’ll be like one of those fish that hang around sharks and eat their left overs.

… and come on. Spo didn’t have a lot of options. The Heat picked guys like Arroyo and Magloire up from off the street. Richardson was traded last off season 4-5 times and even as a huge expiring he was not wanted by the Knicks, Clippers, or Timberwolves. He played good though. JO was suppose to be the inside presence and he had issues anytime he had to move more than two steps. Other than Beasley, I think Spo did a pretty good job. But, there was also nothign to lose. The pressure is on now.

Hey, at least I have all of my grammatical and syntactical ducks in a row, Mr. No-capitalization-and-Weird-Comma-Placement.

That said, you weren’t around for the Martin/Doc B. Simien lovefest back during the 05-06 season. It was so disturbing and extreme that it became a source of absurd amusement (i.e. Simien was cast in a Chuck Norris kind of role around here for a while).

Then again WTF do I know? I used to joke around about having a Jason “White Chocolate” Williams blow-up doll stashed under my bed. Yup, that’s how this “grown ass man” rolls. WHAT?!

So you’re grammatically correct on a blog while you make childish and homo-erotic imbecilic comments to other grown ass men,works for me.do you also walk up to grown men on the street and say” hey why do you have a hard-on”?

On the street, no, but among male friends the expression “have a hard-on for” is just a way of kidding around. It is not intended as homo-erotic so much as to note the extreme enthusiasm of the other person.

“Hey you didn’t offend me if you want to focus on a mans personal private area,that’s on you.If that’s how you get down that’s how you get down.To each his own.”

Let’s examine the record:

1. I wrote this morning that I all but splooged on my keyboard over the prospect of this coaching staff teaching Bosh to play defense.
2. I admitted to previous, self-deprecating pot-shots about owning a J-Will blow up doll.

It’s gallows humor. No, I wouldn’t walk up to a random stranger on the street and ask him about his junk. But a lot of us in here know each other going on years, so there’s a level of comfort and trust that enables a more liberal sense of humor.

Efficiency declines as a function of playing time for all but the very elite players. Magliore can play at a high level for maybe 5-8 minutes, tops. Throw him out there for a longer contiguous stretch of time, and he devolves into a flat-footed foul magnet. Furthermore, he hasn’t aged gracefully, so he can’t physically handle more than one stretch of playing time per game, at most. That’s the reality of the situation; physically, he’s an extremely limited player at this point in his career.

Which is why we should go after Dampier. For as much as I love the Big Cat, he’s an end of the bench player at this point in his career. Dampier still has the ability to put up good numbers for longer stretches on the floor. He put up 20 and 17 in a game against us last year.

Spo did not do well in “your opinion” because in mine he took a team with alot of second tier and even third tier players knowing he was dealing and working for last summers free agency and took them to 45 and 47 wins respectively,and to the play-off’s both seasons,so from where i’m sitting thats a job well done,could he have done some things better,probably,but i can’t speak to that i’m not in that mans shoes.My name isn’t mentioned any where as a expert
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Stop giving people credit for being experts just because they are in a certain position. You can’t continue to go around and act like fansor whoever have no right to critique or pass along what they think is best for the team just because they are, well, fans. Knowledge of the game is not a degree you have to pick up in college somewhere. If you know the ins and outs of the game and you see something you like or don’t like, you speak on it, you judge it, and your ideas are just as good as the next persons. Coaches, GMs,and especially writers DO NOT have it all figured out. If they did, no one would ever get fired. And I am referring to you saying “my name isn’t mentioned anywhere as expert”. You don’t have to take a course or get a job at ESPN to know what you are talking about.

As far as Spo “not doing well”, it was in reference to his subs, not the last 2 years.My opinion is still hes not a good coach but thats not what I was even talking about. Specifically his rotations were horrible. Just because they made the playoffs doesn’t mean he kept doing the right thing. Theres no way you can justify playing 6-8 UD on Gasol and Bynum when the lone 7 footer you have is taking up space, rebounding, defending, and giving you good minutes. Thats not a call for Magloire to start or take his minutes, but it is an obvous matchup problem Spo himself is helping to magnify. Its putting UD in a position to fail. He did not do well in those situations specifically.

The only way the rotation would have “worked” would have been to play Beasley 35mpg… and that wasn’t going to happen.

You’ll notice most of the guys who started last year are now going to be reserves for other contenders (JO, Richardson) or starters for horrible teams (Beasley). Arroyo might not even get any minutes next year and who knows what’s going to happen with Wright in GS.

If these guys blow up on other teams then yeah… the talent was there, but I don’t think the talent was there. I don’t really buy the thought the talent that was there was not utilized correctly because it was like trying to turn a Big Mac into prime rib. You can call it prime rib, but it’s still a Big Mac.

Basically over the last two seasons the whole heat team was a collection of mis-matches,i personally think that coach spo had a daunting task of trying to get the best match-up’s in order to get the team wins.

Our roster had limitations and altho I think we should have won a few more games, the fact that we didn’t doesnt rest on Spo alone, not in the least bit. I know you guys get tired of my Spo bashing and I will tone it down. I just want to see him grow as a coach the same way we demand our guys grow as players.

“I would venture that with Haslem also on the roster, Bosh will wind up playing closer to 18 minutes a game at center”

Seems like most players on this Heat team will be playing significant MPG out of position. Wade and Lebron at the point, Bosh at the 5.. Lebron everywhere, players switching positions like democrats and republicans. Could get confusing for guys like Miller, the elders scrubs, and the young chumps. “gimme the ball! nah, that was your territory, dumbasss! Isn’t that your cover, or you’re a small forward now?!”

At any rate, we can certainly expect another season of Captain Udonis Reefer bashing here. With Pat Riley as the boss, Spoelstra, and big-buddy Wade, Hashlem will get plenty of PT, pushing Wade’s other lapdog, Mr. Rupaul, to the bench or to the 5. This blog will be fun to read when that happens, the Great UD devouring up minutes on the court. And of course, young Spotard will be blamed again for it all. Let the games begin!

“Could get confusing for guys like Miller, the elders scrubs, and the young chumps. “gimme the ball! nah, that was your territory, dumbasss! Isn’t that your cover, or you’re a small forward now?!”

Have you ever played basketball, much less organized basketball? YMCA players who have higher level high school or lower level college experience can figure it out…. I’m pretty sure the best players in the world will be able to figure it out. We’re not dealing with 19 year old kids.

… and come on. Spo didn’t have a lot of options. The Heat picked guys like Arroyo and Magloire up from off the street. Richardson was traded last off season 4-5 times and even as a huge expiring he was not wanted by the Knicks, Clippers, or Timberwolves. He played good though. JO was suppose to be the inside presence and he had issues anytime he had to move more than two steps. Other than Beasley, I think Spo did a pretty good job. But, there was also nothign to lose. The pressure is on now.
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And JB I wasn’t arguing your point, the roster was limited. At the same time, there were some huge matchup problems we helped create. I don’t see how constantly putting 2 6-8 guys on the floor against 2 7footers isn’t deemed as a bad idea, no matter who the 7footer is on your team. In Magloire’s case he should have played a lot more minutes last year in certain games. Regardless of what u think about him he was still our best rebounder and interior defender and muscle.

Watcher I have to disagree with you. It IS a coaches job to develop players, not just the assistants. His mandate was not just to make the playoffs, it was to get better every step of the way AND make the playoffs. Regardless, that had nothing to do with the point I was trying to make. Just because we get a split with LA or whoever does not mean u don’t try to do better. I am not saying playing magloire was the difference in a sweep vs a split, but not playing him didnt help the cause. This convo had nothing to do with babysitting or player development and for some reason I think you are leaning toward making this another Beasley debate. Beasley had nothing to do with this, it was about a 7footer playing 7footers as opposed to trotting out 6-8 players who were completely over matched.

“On the street, no, but among male friends the expression “have a hard-on for” is just a way of kidding around. It is not intended as homo-erotic so much as to note the extreme enthusiasm of the other person.”

Well, not necessarily, sir. For example: “Tim is pretty cool, yeah, you could invite him” = acceptable. But… “I have a hard-on for Tim, yeah, you could invite him” = unacceptable.

‘Count me in amongst those who DON’T say “I have a hard on for (insert guy’s name here)”’

To finish this – If you were to say “I have a hard-on for Wayne Siemien”, that would mean that you are gay. If you said “Tony (or Marty) has a hard-on for Wayne Siemien”, and you know them well enough, then you are just giving them a hard time, in a jokey kind of way.

“Q: I’m curious why Riley chose now to call his press conference and respond to Van Gundy and Barkley. It’s almost as if someone made a comment to him like he didn’t come to his players’ defense, etc. It’s just weird timing. — Moshe.

A: Actually. We prodded him for the answer. I think the timing was that the ‘Canes and Dolphins were about to open their seasons and he didn’t want to let the spotlight get too far away.”

It stinks of premeditation. Riley, Spoelstra, the Van Gundy brothers are all great friends. They probably concocted the media circus with all the necessary calculations. Just to hype-up some fake rivalries, build up another NBA soap opera, and make more money for everyone. They are also firnds with media guys like Le Batard, Riley’s friend too, Wilbon from PTI, perhaps even Charles Barkley.

They must be all cracking up in uncrotrollable laughter by now, already witne$$ing the dividend$$$$ of their media plan for next season. Better friends than ever, richer than ever too.

Kbboy80,i don’t think your spo bashing at all.I just like to be a little more positive and balanced.I can fully appreciate your point and wan’t to see spo do more and by extension the heat accomplish more,i just try to be a little more balanced,that;s why i say to my way of thinking he did a outstanding job over the last 2 seasons especially with what he had to work with.

You know what I think my problem is? I just think in my opinion, being a south Florida teams fan, is the level of coaching has gotten sickening. Now you may not agree and may like to focus more on the players, but after going from Shula,Leyland,Johnson,Riley, and having to watch guys like Wansteddt, Coker,Shannon,it just makes me want to scream. So every coach we get, I probably pay more attention to detail than I should and less attention to the talent he has. I am just that type of person, I love the mental aspect of the game. But I can admit when I am bashing or being one sided at times, at the same time, I try to backup my opinions and not just hate for no reason.

It’s not about Beas, it’s about the responsibilities of the coach.
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Correct, and his responsibility it to put out the proper lineups and make proper adjustments. I simply pointed out that he didn’t do that sometimes, JB pointed out he didnt have the options( i think he did, just not great ones) and this year he has the options. The debate is will he use them correctly?

Everyone will continue to talk about the options we had last year, that werent very good, but I mantain you still have to use what u have properly. Remember all these things we debated:

Y don’t we go to q in the post?
Y isn’t Rio used like an off guard?
Y is UD gaurding Lebron?

Things like that have nothing to do with talent. Now that we have the talent, all I am saying is that its going to piss me off if I see things like UD playing extended minutes against Gasol/Bynum. Thats not a UD or SPo bash, its just wanting to see the rotations get better. I don’t think anyone here can deny we all had a problem with rotations at some point last year.

I for one had serious concerns at times over the last two seasons with some of the rotations and match-ups,i can remember at times when i was away wanting to throw my beer at the screen like,why the hell did he do that.But i also understood that all they(meaning arison/riley and spo) cared about was getting into the play-off’s.I personally think some of his rotations were predicated on just that.did he always use the best rotations,no did he utilize the players he had in their bet capacity at times over the last two season no,but as i watched some of the very strange things he did,i also looked at it bigger picture wise.

I agree with you in regards to Q. He was the one guy who really impressed me last year. I did not think highly of him going into the season.

IIRC, Haslem guarded Lebron for like 2-3 minutes. Lebron was going off that game regardless of who was covering him. It was the only time I remember Haslem guarding a SF unless it was a result of a rotation/switch on defense that caused a mismatch.

Towards the end of the season Chalmers was seeing more time at SG. There’s really not a lot of minutes there in the first place and who was the competition at PG to start the year? Chris Quinn?

No, Ainge has said the Celtics contacted Shaq as soon as FA started but he was still wanting $8-$10m a year then so began negotiations with JO. According to Shaq when he signed his two year deal with the Celtics for the vets min the Hawks & Pistons were both offering him $8m a year. I’d suggest he might’ve been embelishing things a touch.

“Hey you didn’t offend me if you want to focus on a mans personal private area,that’s on you.If that’s how you get down that’s how you get down.To each his own.”

Let’s examine the record:

1. I wrote this morning that I all but splooged on my keyboard over the prospect of this coaching staff teaching Bosh to play defense.
2. I admitted to previous, self-deprecating pot-shots about owning a J-Will blow up doll.

It’s gallows humor. No, I wouldn’t walk up to a random stranger on the street and ask him about his junk. But a lot of us in here know each other going on years, so there’s a level of comfort and trust that enables a more liberal sense of humor.

One thing I noticed was that LA Lakers have struggled against the young athletic teams like the Charlotte Bobcats and the Heat. Even the Heat with its scrubs was very competitive against them. This bodes well if the Heat gets to the Finals. Heat won’t be standing around and shotting jumpers that don’t fall like the Boston did last year. The Heat will be attacking the basket.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to lump last year’s Heat as the young and athletic. After posting this…I saw how ridiculous and funny that was. But…I guess with D Wade…we are always young and athletic..the way he attacks the basket.

I think the greatest challenge the Heat will face for the championship this year will be the Celtics. They are really methodical, deep, and have shored up some of the weaknesses that were exposed last year…by getting Shaq, JO, West.

I say we start blaming Spotard for everything right now. If the Heat don’t get, if FatBoy Pittman hasn’t lost at least 15 lbs by now, if SuperMario is still stoned out of his mind with Haslem’s weed, also provided by Keith Askins, Spo’s assistant. Blame Spoelstra if the only thing Compadre Arroyo seems to be good at, professionally, is singing Hip-hop trash all summer long. Blame Spo if HandsOfStone Anthony hasn’t learned how to grab a pass in the paint, or shot 3 feet away from the basket. Blame Spotard if Big Z and Magloire are just another year older, and insist in playing cards during practice. And when Wade, Pat Riley and everyone tell Spoelstra to play Captain Udonis Reefer for over 20 minutes in the opener against Boston, you know who to blame.

It takes a lot of time and energy to make every single post directed to incite people into negative response’s directed towards your post’s.What satisfaction do you derive from that? i’m just curious nothing else

“Then again due to the battering my Shaq posters take, I’ve taken the option of now having them laminated. Couple of tissues later and good as new!”

I admit that I’ve been pretty douchy in responding to your Shaq posts. So please accept my apology about that; I promise not to indulge in those shenanigans again, despite the fact that any mention of Shaq literally raises my blood pressure (::clenching fist::).

Anyhow, and in all seriousness, why do you focus so much on Shaq? It’s an honest, totally non-confrontational question with no ulterior motive whatsoever. I’m genuinely curious why you seem so invested in him. Is it because you know him at some level? Is it because you feel a moral obligation to counter what you perceive to be unfair and excessive criticism?

It’s cool it really doesn’t bother me that much people ripping Shaq. I understand some Heat fans might not like him (although I think that has a bit to do with the Riley/Ira propaganda job they did on him).

I just “adopted” him as my favorite player when he first came into the NBA and have stuck with him ever since, thats all.

Shaq was one of the most dominating players I have ever seen. Maybe the most dominate. At this point, I just feel the positive aspects of his game outweight the negatives. It really has nothing to do with what happened in Miami, LA, Orlando, or Cleveland.

The Heat should not obtain Dampier. If you remember, the greatest Cener in the NBA was Bill Russell and he was only 6′9″, so was Willis Reed. Wes Unseld was even shorter. The Heat does not need Dampier.

that was because den dey was the tallest nba players .nba players has gotten bigger over the years.

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About the author

IRA WINDERMAN is embarking on his 24th season covering the Miami Heat for the Sun-Sentinel, witnessing more than 1,900 of the team's games (thus the bags under the eyes and hair loss not truly depicted by the accompanying photo). With the help of antacids (during the lean years) and a sense of humor (during the Riley dictatorship), he has been able to remain a courtside fixture at AmericanAirlines Arena, a veteran 12 years older than coach Erik Spoelstra. Only former trainer Ron Culp had attended more Heat games, but, then again, Winderman has yet to tape his first ankle.